Week 2

This is the Acquisition phase; 
Goal setting is a motivational technique that is based on the concept of practice in setting specific goals that will enhance your performance, the difficult goals result in higher performance than setting easier goals. 

During week 2 the consultation lasted roughly an 1 hour 30 mins, due to the fact that a lot of information and detail had to be put into the setting of a basic goal. During this session we re watched the motivational goal setting video to recap on what was needed to be done. This was done in my office as it is easier with the facilities to watch videos. After watching this video the athlete used the notes from the previous week to set a SMART target. The target had to fit into the SMART concept (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic,Time). The psychological issue that we were resolving was to prevent motivational levels from decreasing, therefore the target that we set was; to be rewarded after every win in any 1500m race they compete in for 1 month in order to reduce their PB by 1 second in the 1500m.

This goal was set by athlete A on their own accord. This means that athlete A will be more motivated to train and win in order to reduce their time. In order to work out this goal the athlete filled in a SMART table, this was beneficial as it allowed the athlete to narrow it down into one final goal. 

The athlete filled in one of the SMART worksheets and made one goal, this goal will be worked on throughout the six week PST. The athletes outcome of the session was one goal that they had chosen;

1. To be rewarded after every win in any 1500m race they compete in for 1 month in order to reduce their PB by  second in the 1500m.

This goal was good to start with as it is basic whilst the athlete gets to learn about goal setting and actually do it for the first time. As the weeks go on the goals can progress as the athlete does. The session took place in my office again to allow for a quiet area to concentrate and the video to be re watched on the board. The psychological strategy that was and is continually being used was goal setting. Completing a sheet meant that the athlete can have a record of the goal which makes it easy to look back at if they are struggling at any point.The benefits of this mean that the athlete can use this again and again throughout their sporting career to set them self goals that will continue to progress the athlete as well as maintain sports performance.  

If I re did this task with an athlete then I would get the athlete to fill in two goals so that they can compare them both. I would make them fill in two goals one being a SMART target and one just being a target, this could then give the athlete an opportunity to see the difference between the two and how a SMART target improves performance compared to a normal target.